BILL ANALYSIS
SB 244
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Date of Hearing: June 15, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall, Jr., Chair
SB 244 (Wright) - As Amended: March 18, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 28-11
SUBJECT : Children's services: high-risk children
SUMMARY : Creates additional supports for foster youth and
families with at-risk children. Specifically, this bill :
1)Clarifies that first priority enrollment for the California
State Preschool Program for three or four-year-old neglected
or abused children who are recipients of Child Protective
Services (CPS) includes:
a) Neglected or abused children who are in family
maintenance, family preservation, and unification; and
b) Neglected or abused children who were in CPS and are now
adopted with an income-eligible caregiver or who are the
children of a youth in foster care.
2)Provides the following children the right to continuous
enrollment in a state preschool program or a child care and
development program if their family relocates:
a) Neglected or abused children who are recipients of CPS;
b) Children who are at risk of being neglected or abused;
and
c) Children of a foster youth.
3)Provides for eligibility of and enrollment for children of
foster youth and adopted children ages zero to five if they
are enrolling in a licensed or local education agency (LEA)
such as a school district or county office of education.
4)Extends, from three to twelve months, the recertification
period for zero-to-five-year-old at risk children if they are
enrolled in licensed or LEA.
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5)Requires counties to report to California Department of
Education (CDE) the reasons why CPS social workers are not
providing information on State-funded programs to parents and
caregivers, including foster youth who are parents.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes priorities for enrollment in the California State
Preschool Program, which serves children from three to five
years of age who come from low-income families, as follows:
a) First priority is for three- or four-year-old neglected
or abused children who are recipients of CPS or who are at
risk of being neglected, abused, or exploited; and,
b) Second priority is for eligible four-year-old children
prior to enrolling eligible three-year-old children.
2)Provides that, in order to be eligible for federal or state
subsidized child development services, families must, among
other requirements, come within at least one of the following
categories:
a) A current aid recipient (i.e., California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Program (CalWORKs)
recipient);
b) Income eligible;
c) Homeless; or,
d) One whose children are recipients of CPS or whose
children have been identified as being abused, neglected,
or exploited; or at risk of being abused, neglected, or
exploited.
3)Establishes priorities for enrollment in federal or state
subsidized child development services, which serve children
from birth to twelve years of age and older children with
exceptional needs, as follows:
a) First priority is for neglected or abused children who
are recipients of CPS, or children who are at risk of being
neglected or abused; and,
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b) Second priority is for income eligible families,
regardless of the number of parents in the home. Within
this priority, families with the lowest gross monthly
income relative to family size are admitted first.
4)Establishes the Early Learning Quality Improvement System
Advisory Committee, and requires the committee to submit a
report containing recommendations for the creation of an Early
Learning Quality Improvement System to the Legislature and the
Governor by December 31, 2010.
FISCAL EFFECT : This latest amended version of this bill has not
yet been analyzed by a fiscal committee.
COMMENTS : This bill contains provisions that cross over into
the jurisdictions of two different policy committees and has
been double-referred to both: this committee for the foster care
and CalWORKs child care elements and to Education for the child
care and development element.
Child care and development system
The state's subsidized child care and development system serves
nearly 700,000 families. Care is provided to children in
families receiving CalWORKs as well as to other low-income
working families subject to available resources. The state
spends a total of $3.1 billion on child care, of which $1.4
billion are federal funds from the Temporary Assistance to Needy
Families and the Child Care and Development Block grants.
However, an estimated 200,000 eligible children do not receive
services and remain on the Centralized Eligibility List (CEL)
due to a shortage of child care resources. Thus, priority
enrollment can often determine whether or not a child receives
child care and development services, which are essential to
allowing parents to work and children to prepare for school.
Practically speaking, families are placed on waiting lists
according to where they fall within the priorities. When a
"slot" becomes available, it is filled by a child on the waiting
list.
Foster youth sobering statistics
California is home to over 75,000 foster youth according to the
California Child Welfare Co-Investment Partnership
(Partnership), a collaborative group of state agencies,
foundations and other nonprofit organizations whose purpose is
improving the lives of children and families who are in or are
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at risk of entering the state's child welfare system. The
Partnership reports that:
79 percent of children entering foster care were removed
for reasons of neglect-related reasons.
55 percent of children who enter foster care for the
first time are age 5 or younger.
Many children cycle through the foster care system more
than once and experience multiple placements
Former foster youth do not fare as well as their peers.
Former foster youth are more likely to face economic
hardship, be arrested and spend time in jail or prison, and
be without a high school diploma or General Education
Development (GED). They are also less likely to go to
college, be employed, or have a checking account.
Four billion dollars is spent annually on child welfare
in California. Half of that amount comes from federal tax
dollars and the other half from state and county tax
dollars.
The cost of abuse and neglect nationally every year is
up to $69 billion. This amount includes direct costs of
hospitalization, mental health treatment and police
services and indirect costs of juvenile delinquency, adult
criminality, and lost productivity to society.
The youngest in foster care: study on impaired development
The American Academy of Pediatrics released a study in 2000
entitled, "Developmental Issues for Young Children in Foster
Care." The study makes the connection between the violence,
child abuse, and lack of stimulation that these young foster
children experience and the negative and long lasting effects
these have on the establishment of their brain functions. The
authors write that more children are entering foster care
earlier in life when brain growth and development are more
active. It is during these formative years, from zero to age
three and four, when the parts of the brain that control
personality traits, learning processes, and coping with stress
and emotions are established, exercised, and set in stone. If
unused, the authors say, these parts of the brain atrophy.
While it is possible to improve these brain functions, to do so,
a young child needs favorable and stimulating environments.
Need for the bill : According to the author,
This bill is intended to improve the long-term
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outcomes for very young children (ages 0-5) in and
around the foster care system by improving their
access to early care and education programs. Research
shows that young children who have been exposed to
violence, neglect or maltreatment, or who have a
parent who is in the foster care system, are much more
likely than their peers to have developmental delays,
poor school performance, emotional and behavioral
problems, and difficulty maintaining relationships.
Future impacts of these risk factors include dropping
out of school, unemployment, need for public
assistance, depression, health problems, and family
instability-all of which are costly to the public in
the long term. SB 244 gives priority enrollment in
early care and education programs to two small groups
of children (ages 0 to 5) who are particularly
vulnerable: the young children of foster youth and
those that entered permanent placement (e.g.,
adoption) with low-income families. This bill will
also allow foster children, ages 0 to 5, who are
already in a high quality early care and education
program to remain there if their placement changes-a
right already given to school age foster children.
Finally, the bill provides important clarifications
regarding children who already receive priority
enrollment.
Priority child care enrollment
This bill provides eligibility of and priority enrollment for
two additional groups of children: neglected or abused children
of foster youth and adopted children. This provision of the
bill sets up competing priorities between two deserving
populations: young children who have experienced abuse and
neglect and young children from economically unstable families.
One thing that is clear is that both of these groups need
reliable child care. The policy question lies with whether the
children who have experienced violence and neglect have a more
important and urgent need for child care over low-income
children who have not experienced abuse. This bill would move
the former group to the top of the priority list for enrollment
essentially displacing the other low-income children whose
parents need the child care in order to work and/or meet their
CalWORKs obligations. The statistics for foster youth mentioned
earlier in the analysis as well as the study paint a very bleak
picture for these children. Their life trajectory is
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significantly altered because of the abuse and neglect that they
have experienced. The study determined that, for neglected and
abused children ages 0 to 5, without a safe, stable, and
consistent environment, these children will most likely never
have proper brain development. The correlation between impaired
development and the sobering statistics about incarceration
rates and poor school performance are difficult to ignore. The
author states that this bill would, at a maximum prioritize
approximately 4,000 children to the CEL.
Helps foster youth complete their high school education
The California School Age Families Education (Cal-SAFE) program
provides community-linked, school-based support services and
child care and development programs for expectant mothers and
teen parents. These programs may be available at school sites,
including alternative schools. Dependents and wards of the
court that are parents or are pregnant are eligible for this
program. According to the author, foster care parents meet the
"need for services" criteria if they are in vocational training,
employed, or seeking employment, seeking permanent housing, or
incapacitated. Because foster care parents may not meet these
criteria, this bill allows them to if they are working toward a
high school diploma or GED test.
Formerly a study bill
This bill left the Senate as a study bill. The July 8, 2009
amended version would have required the CDE to conduct a study
regarding the feasibility of providing priority enrollment in
high-quality child care and development programs for children
from birth to 5 years of age who are in the foster care system,
in relative care or reunification, or were formerly in the
foster care system, who are at risk of abuse, neglect, or
exploitation, are homeless, or have a custodial parent who meets
specified criteria. CDE would have been required to report its
findings to the Governor and to the appropriate fiscal and
policy committees of the Legislature by December 31, 2010.
Related legislation : AB 769 (Torres) of 2009 expands priority
enrollment in state-funded preschool programs to children who
have a biological parent who is, or who has been within the
previous six months, under the jurisdiction of the delinquency
or dependency court. AB 769 was vetoed by the Governor.
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AB 659 (Ma) of 2008 would have allowed San Francisco to
supersede state law, on a pilot project basis, to ensure
continuity of child care for families whose children are no
longer eligible to attend a locally funded program. Children of
these families would have been allowed to transfer to a state or
federally funded program. This bill was vetoed by the Governor.
SB 1629 (Steinberg), Chapter 307, Statutes of 2008, established
the Early Learning Quality Improvement System Advisory Committee
to develop recommendations on how to evaluate and improve the
quality of child development programs serving children from
birth to age five and established a framework for future
resources necessary to improve the quality of child development
programs.
DOUBLE REFERRAL . This bill has been double-referred. Should
this bill pass out of this committee, it will be referred to the
Assembly Committee on Education.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Los Angeles County Education Foundation (sponsor)
Los Angeles County Office of Education (co-sponsor)
Advancement Project
Alameda County Office of Education
Aspiranet
Association of California School Administrators
Bay Area Partnership for Children
California Alliance of Child and Family Services
California Association of Urban League Executives (CAULE)
Children's Institute, Inc.
Children's Law Center
Compton Unified School District
Compton, City of, Office of the City Manager
El Dorado County Office of Education
Maria's Italian Kitchen
National Association of Social Workers, CA Chapter
Santa Clara County Office of Education
The Atlas Family Foundation
The Sally & Dick Roberts Coyote Foundation
Toberman Neighborhood Center
6 Individuals
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Frances Chacon / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089